What Does Job 3:21 Mean in the King James?
Which long for death, but it cometh not; and dig for it more than for hid treasures;
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
Death is both awaited and dug for like buried treasure, yet it still does not come.
THE MEANING
When pain is this severe, death can be longed for as if it were buried treasure. The verse holds the torment in view: the longing persists, and death does not arrive.
THE ROOT
מְיַחֲלִים
məyaḥălîm
GROWS FROM
יחל
To wait, hope, or expect.
The word rendered “long for” carries the sense of sustained waiting or expectation. Here, that expectation is directed toward death, showing that the root names the act of hoping without deciding what the hoped-for thing is.
ALSO GROWS
yachal: To wait or hope.
יָחַל
This verb is the root behind the verse’s “long for,” where waiting itself becomes painful.
tohelet: Expectation or hope.
תּוֹחֶלֶת
This noun comes from the same root and shows that יחל can describe expectation; in Job, that expectation is fixed on death.
מַטְמוֹנִים
matmonim
GROWS FROM
טמן
To hide or conceal.
“hid treasures” in this verse is matmonim. The word for treasure grows from the root for hiding: it is something concealed. The verse places death alongside such hidden wealth, making the speaker’s search for it feel as urgent as uncovering something precious.
ALSO GROWS
tāman: To hide or conceal.
טָמַן
This verb supplies the hidden quality in the verse’s image of treasure.
matmon: A hidden treasure.
מַטְמוֹן
This singular form shares the root and makes explicit that the treasure is something hidden away.
THE PATTERN
The deepest longing turns an unseen object into something worth pursuing above all else.
If thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as for hid treasures;And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field; the which when a man hath found, he hideth, and for joy thereof goeth and selleth all that he hath, and buyeth that field.THE THREAD
If a man die, shall he live again? all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.“Wait” here comes from the same root, יחל (yachal), as “long for” in Job 3:21. In one verse the waiting is fixed on death; in the other it stretches toward a change, showing how much depends on what the longing is directed toward.
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